A Lot of Nothing

A Lot of Nothing_360P

The title literally tells us what to expect.. "a LOT of NOTHING..." I felt very wasted watching this movie.

A Lot of Nothing is a mostly decent movie with an interesting premise. That premise could have been executed a lot better, but I was still mildly enjoying most of it. My favorite is the character played by Shamier Anderson. And it feels technically well-made. A few things hold this movie back for me. There are some subplots that seem completely unnecessary and don't fit the rest of the story. I also feel like the story lacks focus with it's themes, partly due to the unnecessary subplots. And when we find out details about the victim late in the movie, I strongly disliked where it went with that. It's not the worst thing you can do with your time, but this isn't something I'd recommend. (1 viewing, 4/13/2023)

The title says it all this film is a lot of nothing not alot happens. James and Vanessa are ostensibly the perfect married couple; beautiful, successful, and smart. Their lives spiral out of control when they decide to seek justice against a neighbor they saw commit a crime on the evening news in todays socioty no one wants to get involved with there neighbours and you certaintly would not be kidnapping a police officer who happens to appears on the news. Some reviewer seems to think this tackles police killings of unarmed victims in the black community umm no not really this relates in no way to it why do you think this because all the actors are black except one the police officer ??

Do not waste your time to watch this movie. It illustrated Black people in the poorest light ever as if we were just plain savages. The wife I wanted to slap holistically because she dragged everybody into her own narrative and calls nothing but a catastrophic failure for everybody. She should've never took the man at gunpoint to question him that was not her job or position. She should've kept her distance, minded her business, and let the justice system do what they needed to do. I'm thoroughly confused on the movie, but the only ironic thing that went on with this movie is the normal narrative of a cop killing a black child is up that it was a white child, so the question becomes do we still have the same passion for the crime at that point. Killing a child or killing an innocent person, regardless of their skin color is wrong so I'm hoping that's the only thing that people took away from this stupid movie. Don't waste your time.

I think that when people ask for representation they are asking for that all around. Within the first 15 min you can tell that this is not a story written from the perspective of the characters. It is so hard to make it to the 30 min mark. From the dialogue to the acting. If you are in the community I would not watch this movie. You will likely be offended. If you are a woman in the community. You are going to be offended as soon as you see Vanessa ( Cleopatra Coleman). From her hair (she needed a BW working on that fro), to her attitude, landing on how she speaks. You can clearly see how the writers view YOU as a human. It is another portrayal of you being seen as hysterical, illogical, jealous, unhinged, and weak. Topped off with submission in the face of the men that control the money. Then there is James (Y'lan Noel). He is not in control and whines in lieu of taking control when his wife begins to come unhinged. She is clearly upset about a circumstance that involves their neighbor. He also allows her to take over the situation until it gets to the point of no return. I was done and could no longer continue when Jamal (Shamier Anderson) comes into the picture. The first offensive remark is around 45 min when he is at the door with his pregnant wife/gf. His brother James and his sister in law are deciding if they should open the door. James confesses to Vanessa that he has given his brother a key. Her response, " What kind of emergency? In case we run out of rolling papers." I made it to the 50 min mark before it was too much to continue. I had a feeling who would write a woman of the community this way. I had to take a look and was laughing...like, of course. I looked at the director. If you know him...you know him. I was like... of course. If you like Insecure, White Famous or Stowaway, save yourself the time. Do not watch. You are going to be upset at how these actors have been reduced.

Mo McRae's directorial debut "A Lot of Nothing" tackles a sensitive and relevant topic - police killings of unarmed victims in the Black community. The film follows James and Vanessa, a wealthy Black couple, who perform their own twisted citizen's arrest after learning that their white neighbor and cop killed a kid. The film is audacious and creative in its cinematography and musical score. However, it falls short in its writing, as the characters are poorly developed and serve as mere soundboards for the film's proposed intelligence. The film's themes are not explored with meaningful depth, and the big reveal leaves the film's stance on race and social capital muddled. Despite its weaknesses, McRae shows promise in his direction and artistic capabilities.

This was a heaping pile of stereotypical nonsense that promotes hate and prejudice. The movie pretends to portray sophistication and refined class, but devolves to socioeconomic emotional ignorance, driven by the writers bias and bigoted viewpoint. Watching this movie was just a painful journey of nothingness, really a lot of nothing! They would have been best suited to portray the wife as bipolar off her meds or some other thing to justify the irrational illogical behavior, but the writing pushed a terrible agenda. The irony is that the fact the main house is like a mansion, and the next door neighbors house is a shack complete with half eaten food on plates laying around, beer bottles strewn about, late notices lying all around, a laptop open and queued to play *, and a smoke detector that needed a battery. Again it just added to the far-fetched fantasy of ridiculousness this movie is. Steer clear of this hate provoking garbage!

This movie really was a whole lot of nothing. It talked about any and every thing. Police killings, treatment of women in the workplace, treatment of black men in the workplace, marriage, cheating, lying. There's probably something else I'm missing. So what was the point? Hypocrisy. At least that's what I got from it. But let's be honest, this movie could have been a LOT shorter. A smooth 75 minutes would have been more than enough. The big reveal honestly had me going to see who exactly had written and directed this movie. And then I was shocked. I didn't mind watching it once but I definitely wouldn't sit through it again.

Trailer—A Lot of Nothing